Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Gamma Ray Bursts are Nascent Black Holes

Posted by michael on from the tan-don't-burn dept.

tjgoodwin writes "A paper (PDF format) published in Nature shows, for the first time, that Gamma Ray Bursts are the result of a massive (> 10 solar masses) star collapsing to form a black hole. PPARC has a press release which includes a notable picture of a T. Rex glancing nervously over its shoulder at a supernova!"

4 of 20 comments (clear)

  1. T-rex by Violet+Null · · Score: 3, Funny

    "...which includes a notable picture of a T. Rex glancing nervously over its shoulder at a supernova!"

    My parents tell me about the days before they had time-travel journalism, but I have to say, I don't believe it.

  2. Well by TheGreenLantern · · Score: 3, Funny

    I'm sure Reed Richards and the rest of the Fantastic Four will be happy to hear this. Perhaps they can now develop shielding for the X-10 rocket ship that will finally be able to block those nasty Gamma Rays.

    Oh wait, those were cosmic rays. And come to think of it, why they hell would you want to block them? Hell, who doesn't want cool super powers? Trust me kids, it's a blast.

    --

    It hurts when I pee.
  3. Seems the dot-com collapse is a bit widespread.. by billn · · Score: 3, Funny

    The pattern of gamma ray bursts uses the same dispersion model of fleeing CEO's from massive (>10 billion shares) companies collapsing to form investor black holes.

    --
    - billn
  4. Gravastars? by pubudu · · Score: 4, Insightful
    I saw a special on PBS a while back that came to basically the same conclusion, that only a hypernova could produce enough energy for us to notice them at that distance. Is this paper simply more experimental verification?

    Of course, my real question is whether the purported alternative to black holes, viz. gravastars (Gravitational Condensate Stars; described here, with an associated /. story here), would do the same thing. It's my understanding that a gravastar would appear (almost?) identical to a black hole from the outside, and so ought to be able to produce this kind of phenomenon, but is it so? Would a star collapsing into a gravastar produce a gamma-ray burst? (I assume that, since they are different from black holes, the details of their formation would be different, as well--perhaps different enough to upset the whole thing.)

    --
    ~~~~~~

    under-paid karma whore